No 'spark' for Romney in Illinois

Mitt Romney has a roster of blue-chip GOP supporters here, more resources and a superior organization in a state that seems a good fit to his brand of Republicanism.

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And yet again, on primary eve, Illinois remains in play, with Rick Santorum seemingly within striking distance and the former Massachusetts governor’s local supporters more nervous than they should be about Tuesday’s outcome.

Bob Michel, the former House GOP leader who served 19 terms in Congress representing Peoria, acknowledged that Romney has thus far failed to generate sufficient excitement to deliver a convincing knockout blow to Santorum in Illinois.

“He’s not overwhelming, that’s the problem through the whole damn primary,” said Michel, who backed Romney in 2008 and again this cycle. “What’s the spark? What’s the thing that gets him off and running? No one knows.”

Romney’s inability to lock down the Republican vote in the most populous of the Midwestern states is exemplified by former GOP Gov. Jim Edgar’s ambivalence toward him.

The former two-term Illinois governor should be in Romney’s sweet spot: He’s a pro-business Republican who held statewide office for 18 years and sometimes faced trouble from more orthodox conservatives.

But rather than backing Romney, Edgar is sitting out a Republican presidential race, he said, for the first time since getting into elective politics.

“Romney just doesn’t get folks real excited,” Edgar told POLITICO. “It seems like he can get about 33 percent and just about hovers there.”

A moderate in the tradition of successful statewide Republicans dating from Everett Dirksen to Thompson to Sen. Mark Kirk, Edgar said Romney’s tack to the right on a range of issues since becoming a national candidate leaves him vulnerable of blurring the lines between him and Santorum.

In a state without formal party affiliation, where voters choose one party’s primary ballot at their precinct, Edgar said Romney may have cost himself support by wooing the GOP’s most conservative voters.

“If he keeps moving to the right, I think he might be losing some people who are saying he’s not a whole lot different than Santorum,” Edgar said. “If Romney was kind of running with his governor of Massachusetts image, then he might get some Democrats and independents to come in and help him. But today, I don’t know.”

Romney’s Illinois team — which has long expected to win the state — now has him campaigning here like a candidate scared. A Chicago Tribune/WGN poll taken March 7-9 showed Romney’s lead over Santorum at 4 percentage points, with Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul far behind, though a Public Policy Polling automated survey released Sunday evening gave Romney a more comfortable 15-point edge.